Peter Jarvis

Hall of Fame Class of 1997

Peter Jarvis, internationally known as a scholar and a speaker in the field of adult and continuing education, is currently Professor of Continuing Education at the University of Surrey, UK, and honorary Adjunct Professor in Adult Education at the University of Georgia, USA. He holds a B.D. degree from the University of London, a B.A. degree in economics from the University of Sheffield, a M.Soc.Sc. degree from the University of Birmingham, and a Ph.D. from the University of Aston. Among his numerous honors include the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education from the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (1988) and the Medal of the University of Helsinki (1994). In 1990-91, he was a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; in 1993, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; he served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Alaska in 1994; and in 1995, he was Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia.

Professor Jarvis has authored nine books. Among them, Adult Learning in the Social Context has appeared in a revised edition and received the Cyril O. Houle Award. His International Dictionary of Adult and Continuing Education is the only international dictionary of adult and continuing education ever published. This volume has been widely influential as countries have prepared their own academic dictionaries, and it has also become the basis of the European Project for creating a Multilingual Database.

Professor Jarvis has acted as an examiner for Ph.D. theses and master's degrees in the United Kingdom, Finland, Australia, India, and Malta. He has also acted as an assessor for research project proposals in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, and Croatia.

Most recently, he has been appointed to the Consultative Committee preparing both the Declaration and the Agenda for the Future of the 1997 UNESCO World Conference on Adult Education in Hamburg, Adult Learning--The Key to the 21st Century.